As wireless networks for a wide variety of applications continue to grow and expand, the identification of suitable locations for new communications towers is becoming increasingly important. Often, the most suitable locations are on private property, especially in the case of wireless Internet and telephone networks in rural areas, where communications towers on, for example, farm or ranch land may be necessary or desirable.
Despite the need for expansion of wireless networks, particularly in rural areas, conventional communications towers continue to suffer from several drawbacks that make their placement on private property impractical. Towers of the prior art require extensive foundation and ground work, including the excavation of numerous large holes and the placement of significant quantities of rebar and/or concrete, which is undesirable to many property owners who would prefer not to erect such a significant and permanent foundation. A permanent foundation may be especially undesirable when the need for the communications tower is temporary and/or when it may be advantageous for the tower to be moved rapidly or frequently, such as in the cases of, by way of non-limiting example, natural disasters or other emergencies, military operations, and sporting events. Additionally, it is often necessary or desirable to place communications towers on terrain that is rugged, remote, or otherwise largely inaccessible to excavation and construction equipment.
Attempts to overcome these obstacles have largely focused on lower-end self-standing or guyed towers with lesser foundation requirements, but such towers suffer from additional drawbacks. Particularly, current self-standing or guyed towers generally have a very small structure, often being less than 18 inches wide and having pole diameters of one inch or less. As a result, such towers are difficult for a technician to climb to place antennas. Moreover, such small towers lack rigidity and so may move or twist due to wind and ground disturbances; the point-to-point backhaul antennas typical of many communications networks utilize very narrow radio beams and so require extremely precise placement, and as a result the shifting, twisting, or movement of the towers on which the antennas are mounted may significantly degrade bandwidth and network performance.
One solution that has recently been attempted is the so-called “gravity pad,” which generally comprises a steel channel structure that is bolted together, a metal plate underlying and bolted the steel channel structure, and square concrete blocks disposed inside the cavities created by the crisscrossed steel channel structure, whereby a monopole or other tower may be bolted to the gravity pad. While gravity pads do not require a permanent foundation, they must be assembled on-site by bolting together a large number of individual pieces, and even after assembly comprise many disparate components, i.e. the steel channel/plate structure and the concrete blocks. In addition, when the tower is subjected to wind or another extrinsic bending load, the entire load is transmitted to the base at a single connection point, requiring a very heavy base to prevent the connection between the tower and the base from breaking.
There is thus a need in the art for communications towers that are significantly self-standing and self-supporting, thereby requiring little or no foundation or ground work for installation, and that can be easily installed on rugged or remote terrain, while also providing sufficient size and rigidity to remain substantially stationary when exposed to wind or other extrinsic forces and to enable a technician to climb and maintain the tower and antennas mounted thereon. It is further advantageous for such communications towers to be capable of rapid deployment and easy relocation, as may be necessary for various applications. Means for securing the tower that are simple, lighter than previous attempts, provided as one or a small number of separate components, and easy to assemble either on- or off-site are further desirable.